The great challenge presented by the electrification of the vehicle fleet is the need to significantly increase the country's available energy capacity. The challenge is also marked by maximizing existing resources and producing clean energy based on renewable energies. To respond to these challenges, IKERLAN has collaborated with SALICRU, a Catalan company specialized in the production of power electronics equipment, in the development of an innovative bidirectional converter to adapt the catenary voltage (3300 V), to the typical 400 V grid, in order to use the market chargers within ADIF's Ferrolinera® system.
This product, called CS-MV, is a system that seeks to optimize the electrical grid infrastructure. It offers a stable output voltage of around 400 V, with a power of 250 kW, to which electric vehicle chargers can be connected, and is easily scalable up to a power of 1 MW. In addition, it will help mitigate grid capacity saturation and enable future energy demands, from energy storage systems to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.
Luis Mir, head of the Energy Storage and Power Electronics area at IKERLAN, points out that “this solution will contribute to maximize the efficiency of the railway infrastructure, using the catenary to generate an electrical network intended, among other uses, for charging electric vehicles”.
Albert Marzàbal, research director at SALICRU, adds that “the converter is an advanced technical solution designed specifically for the transport industry. It can take typical input voltages in overhead DC commuter, metro and rail systems and transform them into a three-phase 400 Vac output, providing a versatile and reliable solution for a variety of electrical, commercial and industrial infrastructure applications. The 5-level technology (9 between phases) used allows 97% efficiency switching at 3300 V and 7 kHz”.
This converter can be easily scaled and configured according to specific operational requirements. IKERLAN has participated in the design and development of two prototypes. The first one, a 250 kW inverter, and a second one consisting of two 125 kW inverters in parallel with extra functionalities from the grid point of view. Thus, it can operate independently off-grid as well as connected to the grid for greater stability and reliability.
With this project, IKERLAN continues to strengthen, on the one hand, the thematic of charging systems for electric vehicles and the referentiality of its Energy Storage and Power Electronics area, and, on the other hand, its contribution to the development and competitiveness of the industrial fabric in the form of differential, robust, sustainable and high impact solutions. It is noteworthy that, in the year 2023, the income from the transfer of these technologies increased by more than 15 % and the company collaborated with various leading companies in the electric mobility sector.
This project, which started in 2021, has been subsidized by CDTI Innovation and the first prototype has been developed and validated in IKERLAN's facilities.
The developed solution makes it possible to use the railway infrastructure to harness it as electrical energy in electric vehicle charging stations. In addition, this new electrical infrastructure is able to reuse the energy that is normally lost in the catenary during the braking of trains, to supplement the power grid when charging electric vehicles.
